March 29, 2011, Toronto – Celebrating its 15th anniversary, Canada Blooms, the Flower and Garden Festival, welcomed spring with over 90,000 visitors from March 16-20 at the Direct Energy Centre at Exhibition Place.
“Our 15th Anniversary was a resounding success,” said Canada Blooms festival manager Gerry Ginsberg. “Canada Blooms is a great way for everyone to kick off spring and the start of the gardening season.”
It is also, however, a great way for the industry to give back to the community. This year over 1,000 flowers were donated to the seniors residences. In addition, Canada Blooms and Landscape Ontario, in partnership with Peace, Love and Landscaping, raised over $12,000 for the Canadian Red Cross Tsunami Fund.
Trees displayed at the festival were given to the City of Toronto. “It is great that we are able to give back by planting a little spring cheer across the city,” said Ginsberg.
There were many highlights from Canada Blooms 2011, most notably the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the JUNO Awards with the five “JUNO Rocks” Gardens, inspired by JUNO Award winning artists Ben Heppner, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Jully Black, Oscar Peterson and Sarah Harmer.
Festival visitors enjoyed the sights and smells of spring with 24 Feature Gardens, one of which being the Landscape Ontario Green for Life Garden, the largest feature gardens covering over 9,000 square feet. Festival visitors also benefited from the educational programs led by gardening and horticultural experts from across Canada, including Mark Cullen, Denis Flanagan, Paul Zammitt, Frank Ferragine and Jim Hole.
The addition of new evening programs with Tourism Ireland and the Tourist Office of Spain also kept visitors entertained.
The retail Marketplace was always busy with attendees looking for new and innovative products, especially in the New Product Showcase.
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